Romania’s Tourism Fair, the spring edition

The perks of visiting Romania's less well-known tourist areas

Daniel Onea, 03.03.2022, 14:00

The spring edition of the largest tourism fair staged
in Romania brought together generous offers for various categories of tourists,
whether they are into cultural or treatment tourism, or whether they ‘d rather
go for rural or business tourism offers. Visitors had the opportunity to
discover some of Romania’s most beautiful areas. Also , they found ready-made tourism
packages for a holiday to remember, for extremely affordable prices.

Dana Matic, of the Visit Mureș Association, told us
she has been taking part, for many years now, in both editions of the fair, the
spring and the autumn edition. Dana Matic:

Mures County has quite a few treasures
to offer, and, as of late, because of the pandemic, we have been focusing on natural
assets, on outdoor activities. That is why we invite
our tourists to discover the castles. They are our strongest point. They are
the heritage of the Hungarian nobility of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. We recommend
a three, four-day tour, so they can visit the castles but also the mansions.

Petru Maran works for the Sighetu-Marmatiei tourism promotion
and information Centre. He has invited us to discover Maramures.Petru Maran:

Ours is a very generous offer, culture-wise,
but also in terms of adventure tourism, and my job is to present the Sighetu
Marmatiei municipal city from a tourism perspective. When it comes to cultural tourism,
I recommend the Maramures Museum, with its sections. I recommend the Maramures
Village Museum, the Ethnographic Museum of Maramures, the Elie
Wiesel Memorial House. There is a very important museum we also have in Sighetu
Marmatiei: The Communism Victims and Resistance Memorial. You’re sure to find out
a lot about the communist repression in Romania and about the Sighetu Marmatiei
prison. In the historical Maramures, I recommend that you visit the Merry Cemetery
in Sapanta and the Peri Sapanta Monastery. We cannot ignore the narrow-gauge
train on the Vaser Valley either.

Anca Grădinariu is a representative of the Buzau Country Association,
which was set up with a view to promoting one of Romania’s less well-known
regions. The Association has been submitting documentation so that UNESCO may
recognize the Buzau Country as a geopark. The first assessment has already been
made, or at least that’s what we’ve been told, and we also found out the region
would most likely be granted that status in May this year. Anca Gradinariu:

We present the offers of the
region. We have lots of leaflets for that. And joining us is the Buzau Country ‘s
most distinguished representative, Amelia Papazissu, a
living human treasure who can weave using the goat hair. We’ve got wines, then
we also have the local craft beer. There are a great many magnificent areas in
Buzau County, still unspoiled by mass tourism, with their prose and their cons.
The region is wild and, if we reach a certain altitude, around the Mocearu Lake,
we have the feeling we’re in Switzerland or Iceland, the quietness there is
impressive, what with the extraordinary guest houses, with people who are
cooking experts. The Lopatari Mocearu Lake is my favorite region.

A lively and colorful stall was the one of Bukovina,
represented by Catalina Velniciuc with the Suceava County Council.

Bukovina came to the fair with Easter and
summer offers, many of them from business operators in the tourism sector. Representing
Bukovina at the fair are also Tara Dornelor Eco-tourism Association, Suceava Town
Hall and a craftsman who makes egg-painting demonstrations. A three-night accommodation
package, breakfast, dinner and SPA access included, in a four-star facility in
Campulung Moldovenesc costs RON 2250 per person.

The county of Dambovita is represented at the fair by
Georgiana Ungureanu with the Curtea Domneasca Museum Compound in Targoviste.

Georgiana Ungureanu:

The Dambovita County Council,
through the Curtea Domneasca Museum Compound in Targoviste, has come to the
fair this year to present the 16 museums in our county. Nine of them are
located in the county capital Targoviste. Among them is Curtea Domneasca, the Princely
Court monumental ensemble and the Chindia Tower, which also venues the Museum
of Printing and Old Romanian Book. As a novelty, we invite tourists to visit
the Potlogi Ensemble built in the Brancoveanu style, which has been restored. Towards
the mountains, in Vulcana-Pandele, there is the memorial house of artist Gabriel
Popescu that is also worth visiting. The museum has a beautiful garden where
tourists can take some time to relax.

Szabó Károly is the executive director of the Harghita
Intercommunity Development Agency:

I came here with plenty of offers, from wellness
and gastronomy to theme parks. I have brought the best our county has to offer.
During the pandemic we launched an initiative called Family-Friendly Harghita.
The county is an ideal place for families and we are now licensing tourist units
in this respect. We so far have 86 such units, that include guest houses,
restaurants, places to visit and services that meet our criteria. All these can
also be found the Visit Harghita application.

Florentina Gheorghita, the head of the Botosani Tourist
Information Centre, has also told us about her offer:

The town of Botosani stands out due to its
historical center, known as the Little Leipzig. Many old buildings have been
preserved and most of them have been restored. The church where national poet
Mihai Eminescu was baptized as well as his birthplace are located in the city center.
We now have a project under way aimed at bringing to light the legends of the
old center. It is said that the whole town used to be crossed by tunnels and
underground cells which connected all houses ever since the Tartar invasion.
People used to hide in these cells. With the help of scanners we have found
tunnels dug six and eight meters deep.

(Translation by EN and E. Enache)